The Hofstra University women’s soccer team suffered their seventh straight draw in a 1-1 game against Towson University on Saturday, Sept. 28. The draw moves the Tigers into the second-place position in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) North Division with a 1-0-2 record in conference play. The Pride remain winless in conference play with a 0-0-3 CAA record and sit at fourth place in the CAA North.
The Pride continued to struggle when gaining an advantage, blowing a 1-0 lead 15 minutes into the second half. Hofstra took the early lead at the around the three minute mark, capitalizing on a corner opportunity. Manon Lebargy made a pass to the middle of the 18-yard box to an open Alexia Des Croisselles who found the back of the net for the second time this season.
Towson shifted the momentum in the second half with the equalizer. Kale’a Perry crossed the ball to Emma Levin to tie the score at one apiece 15 minutes into the second half. The assist was Perry’s fifth of the season. She leads the Tigers in points scored with 13 this year.
Both teams finished the game with 13 shots, and the Pride were slightly better in terms of accuracy, with five shots on goal to the Tigers’ four. The Pride were not afraid to push around to break through the skid and committed 12 fouls on the day to Towson’s six. Hofstra won the corners matchup with 13 in the game to the Tigers’ three. Towson was able to silence every corner opportunity after allowing the goal to Des Croisselles.
Olivia Pearse led the Pride in shots with four and put two of the attempts on goal. Millie Davies saw time for the first time in six games after being out with injury and made an immediate impact in her 31 minutes of play. She had three great looks and two shots on goal in her return to the pitch.
The Towson offense ran through Perry, who fired off four shots on the day and assisted the equalizing goal.
Both goalkeepers did their job in net: Lilly Bailey had three saves in the first half for the Pride and Teagan Gardner finished the game with four saves.
It was all Hofstra early in the first half. The Pride forced eight corners and capitalized on the second corner on the day with the Des Croisselles goal. Towson gained ground later in the second half and outshot the Pride 7-5.
Tensions rose in the second half with CAA North standings on the line. Two members of the Tigers were tagged with yellow cards for unsporting and the Pride committed nine fouls. Despite the physicality in the second half, the Tigers gained control early: Perry used her speed and footwork to break toward the goal and find Levin open in the middle for the game-tying goal.
The Pride felt the pressure of the clock ticking down and fired off eight shots in the second half, trying to fight for the go-ahead goal, but they fell short of finding the back of the net due to three saves by Gardner.
The Pride look to snap their seven-game draw skid in a CAA matchup against Northeastern University on Thursday, Oct. 2. Gametime is set for 7 p.m. at Captains Field.
